Rise of the Guardians: Rotting Spirits
by Starstreaked Inspiration
Summary: Spirits and Fairies world wide are acting strangely, almost like they've become evil. Can the Guardians save them or will the world fall into darkness for good? I suck at summaries. Two OCs involved. No OC Pairings. Rated T for paranoia and future chapters


A/N: So my friend and I are working together to write this story. This means the updates will be inconsistent, but I will try my hardest to get things posted as often as possible (so long as life doesn't get in the way). The Autumn spirits belong to me and April belongs to her. We don't own Rise of the Guardians or any of the glorious characters. We're just obsessed with them.

* * *

Easter Sunday landed on April 1st this year. E. Aster Bunnymund finished his final rounds on the northern hemisphere, making sure his googies were safe and waiting for the kids to wake up and begin their hunt. Now he just had to check the lower hemisphere. That's where the problem lies. He had a run in with the Autumn spirits earlier in the night when he first hid some eggs. Some of the younger fairies moved his eggs around while he had his back turned and he got into it with their commanding officer. During summer and winter, while neither of them had any big work to do, they got along great; even going so far as to having painting competitions to see who was better.

"Bunny," Autumn called as he raced by. "Hey! Hold on!"

Bunny stopped and turned to the young teen. Her hair was a little more colorful than it was last year. She told him it was a side effect of her magic to change the colors of the leaves. Who knew whether it was true or not? "I got a lot left to do-"

"Oh, shut it, you over-grown hare! I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't know the fae were moving your eggs. I made sure they knew not to mess with them afterwards. So...sorry." Autumn was the first to apologize when she was wrong. Much like her season, she was hard to predict and changed her attitude often.

"Ah. Well, that's good to hear, mate."

"Bunnymund," a high-pitched voice shrieked.

"Oh no," Autumn and Bunny said in unison. That squeaky voice belonged to Autumn's second in command, Scarlet. She loved fall, but her favorite time of the year was Easter. Scarlet enjoyed watching kids search all over for his beautifully decorated eggs.

"Nice seein' ya," Bunny told her quickly as he dashed off to finish his work.

Scarlet didn't bother chasing the speeding bullet. There was not point in chasing something that was probably on the other side of the world already. "Oh poo," she huffed.

"Heheh. Good to see your working hard," Autumn commented quietly.

"Shush you. I always work hard. And unlike you, I don't get to see Bunnymund as often. It's difficult to find his Warren too." Scarlet turned at playful glare at her comrade, her red eyes glowed with a hint of mischief. "I bet you two are making kissy faces behind my back." She emphasized with a kissy face of her own.

"Shut up stupid harvest spirit. Go do your job," Autumn ordered.

The red-head saluted with a wink and flew off in the direction she came from leaving Autumn alone within the trees. Green was still the dominating color in the area and it had to go.

* * *

"If that rabbit thinks I'm just going to sit back and let him cast his six-foot shadow over my holiday, then he's got another thing coming," April told the eggs she was carrying. The tiny pastel legs kicked and moved, but April held them tightly. She piled the eggs into a trash can and closed the lid. "That ought to hold the little buggers. Poor little googies," she added in a poor Australian accent. She laughed as she headed off to look for more eggs.

Bunnymund looked everywhere for his little googies. He couldn't have missed this town, could he? No way. Not a chance. Maybe they got up and shuffled themselves around a bit. Yeah. That's a possibility.

"Eh," a voice drawled. "What's up doc?"

Fuzzy ears twitched and turned locating the voice perched on the hood of a car. April. That figures. "What'd you with my googies?"

April shrugged, giving him a sly smile. "I don't know. Some are in garbage cans, others I set precariously on the edge of high buildings, and I managed to squeeze a few into my stomach," she finished with a jump as Bunny lunged toward her. "Strewth! Do you know how long it'll take to get more googies painted and up here?! I don't have that kind of time."

"Well, you should have thought about that before celebrating your stupid holiday over mine." April spun around and walked across the street and into an alley.

"That little," Bunny began. "What am I gunna do?" Bunny paced back and forth before he finally got an idea. "Desperate times," he told himself unconvincingly. He used his tunnels to return to the forest the Autumn spirit was working on.

"Bunny, if you're done-"

"I need your help," he interrupted. Autumn stared at him. She looked around making sure there was nobody else around then pointed at herself. Bunny scoffed. "Yeah, ya gumby."

"What happened? You look pretty worried."

He only had one word for her. "April."

Autumn's face turned serious. "What do you need?"

Somehow the two of them managed to make plenty of eggs and hide them just before the kids in town woke up. "Thanks. I owe ya one, mate."

"Yes, you do," Autumn agreed ungratefully. Bunny's brushes were hard for her tiny hands to use and her magic wouldn't work on the eggs. "You should keep smaller paint brushes handy for when something like this happens again."

"This better not happen again," Bunnymund growled. Autumn chuckled. It took a lot to get under Bunny's skin like this, but she understood how he felt. April always messed with her job too. Some spirits are just too troublesome.

* * *

The fun and games of Easter were over by mid-afternoon. Now everyone was focusing on the other holiday that happened to fall on the same day as their beloved Easter. April Fool's Day. A day when pranks and mischief is expected and if Easter made you forget, then April made you remember. After ditching Bunny to deal with the aftermath of her prank, she took a quick trip to Puerto Rico where she found something very interesting. A bullet ant. Since nobody could see her, she couldn't ask anybody why it was called that, but she thought it was cool. After only 10 minutes in the warm Puerto Rican sun, she decided to head further north where it was still snowing a little.

Jack flipped his staff over a few times before tapping it down on the iced-over lake creating swirling fern patterns. The kids in Burgess are all busy with their families today so he is left to his own devices. He heard his name called and looked up. It's April. She is a born prankster and most of the time fun to be around, unless you're her victim. Together they pulled a few pranks that nearly got them banned from the Warren. "Hey, April," he greeted as he glided toward her.

"Check this out," she called excitedly as she held something out to him.

It looked like a small black ant. "What is that?"

"It's called a bullet ant. I have no idea why though," she added with a sad smile.

"Do you think it can move fast, like a bullet," Jack offered with a goofy grin. He was actually feeling a little excited. This is something new and different and he wasn't sure what it did exactly, but it was sure to do something cool with a name like 'bullet'.

"Hm...I don't know. There's only one way to find out." She kneeled down and placed the ant on the ground carefully. Jack sat beside her and waited. It didn't move. It just stood there...staring at them. "I think I might have been mistaken. This might be a staring ant from Albuquerque."

"Maybe it just doesn't like you," Jack laughed.

"That's definitely possible. I did take it out of its natural habitat."

"Where'd you get it from?"

"A nice warm place called Puerto Rico."

"Huh? Then won't it die sitting in the cold like this?"

April continued to stare at the bug. "Ah," she finally said calmly. She picked it back up and looked at Jack. "So where should we take it?"

Jack was about to suggest the Warren before he remember what happened last time. "How about we take this little guy to North's place?"

* * *

North's workshop bustled with a sort of controlled chaos. Yetis carried ice and toys in every direction as the elves scrambled underfoot. As usual the elves played with things that weren't supposed to be played with. He decided to put them to work. "Can we get some cookies over here," he called out. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted North talking to some of the Yetis. When he isn't so busy he'll go say hi, but now there is a bullet ant that needs investigation.

"This place is never boring," April cheered as she ducked under a Yeti's arm.

Jack pushed wrapping paper off of an unused desk and sat on the edge. "Put it up here." April set the bug down once again. It sat there for a few seconds and then started walking away at a normal ant pace. "Awe, it isn't moving fast at all."

"What a disappointment..."

A familiar Yeti walked up to them. Those two trouble makers together can never be a good thing. He asked the pair what they were doing in his native tongue.

April was the first to look at him. "Phil, my man. My main man, Phil." She beamed up at him. Jack chuckled a little nervously.

Phil noticed the bug and threw his arms in the air going off on a rant about having ants in a sugar-filled workshop. If there is one ant, there are thousands! Before he could do anything about it, North jumped on the table. "Notice anything different," he bellowed twisting his boot across a newly dead bullet ant.

April stared at the table in horror. Jack was horrified about how badly he really wanted to laugh at the poor spirit. "Does she not like my new boots," North questioned. At that Jack couldn't hold back anymore and burst into a fit of laughter. "What? Is something I say?"

* * *

A/N: I just happen to have a fascination with the word googies okay? It makes me giggle. Yes. Googies make me giggle. I admit it. Sorry if this seems a little crackish and OOC right now. It gets better, I'm just bad at beginning stories. I'm great at middles and endings though. Leave a review down below (esp. if it concerns someone being out of character. That is very important for me).


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